National Assembly presents text of constitutional amendment to President Ch?vez for enactment

The President of the Republic, Hugo Chávez Frías, formally enacted the constitutional amendment after Cilia Flores, President of the National Assembly, presented him with the text.

This amendment, which expands the rights of the people, was approved in a referendum last Sunday and modifies Articles 160, 162, 174, 192 and 230 of the Constitution to allow elected officials to run for office again.

Chavez arrived in Catia, a Caracas neighborhood, where he followed the protocol established in Article 293 of the Constitution, which lays out the steps that should be followed to formally enact an amendment.

On Sunday, February 15th, Venezuelans voted in their fifteenth election of the past ten years and approved the amendment in question.

With 99.75% of the vote counted, the National Electoral Council announced that the Yes vote in the referendum stood at 6,319,636 votes, 54.86% of the total, while there were 5,198,006 No votes, or 45.13%.